


Trapped

by Tricksterburd



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Angst, Angsty as angst, angsty angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2012-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-13 01:45:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tricksterburd/pseuds/Tricksterburd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But two days.  How could they not notice?  And the joy on his face was replaced once more by worry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> No own SPG. Have some feels. Oneshot.

He was trapped.  Stuck, so very stuck.  He was unable to work himself free from his predicament, and there was no one to turn too.  No one to ask for help, no one to alert to his problem, no one to cry to.  Worse, yet, was that no one had noticed.

How could they not see, that for two days, Rabbit hadn’t moved from the chair?  How could they not notice that for two days Rabbit hadn’t said a single word?!  Rabbit was a prisoner within his own body, unable to move, unable to release the steam building up in his chest, unable to let anyone know he was in trouble.  And through the last two days, people had been walking around, talking to each other, and would wave or greet him without even noticing that he didn’t respond back.

If he could just _blink_ he’d be able to think of a way out of this.  But he couldn’t even do something so simple.  A habit he had picked up over the years, something neither he nor his brothers actually had to do.  But it was comforting, in a weird unconscious sort of way.  But now his little eye plates were stuck open.  The vents in his cheeks were closed.  The vent in his neck was plugged by the angle that his head was tilted. 

The steam that powered the piston that worked his clockwork had nowhere to go, creating pressure even as it cooled and started to pool water in his pipes and oil lines.  His boiler was starting to run on empty, he could feel his joints freeze up and become solid from not moving for two days. 

And he was running low on hope.

How could they not notice?  Was he so unimportant that they didn’t care?  Did they know, and opt to just leave him?  No, no that can’t be it.  They just hadn’t seen, they were busy and no one had been here longer than a heartbeat or two.  They all went about the house doing their own thing and though that he was just taking a rest or something.  That wasn’t odd, right?

But two days.  They hadn’t seen him in any other room for two days.  How could they not notice?  How could they not notice? 

 “Hey Rabbit have you seen my hat?”  It was The Jon, worry all over his face as he danced into the room searching for his missing hat.  Which, actually, was on his head.  Rabbit could see it, could feel the answer rising in him, but nothing happened.  Jon lifted the blanket off the back of the couch, got on his knees and gazed sadly under it, finding nothing. 

The hat fell off his head.  The thump alerted Jon to something being near him, allowing him to find his hat.  Giving a shout of joy Jon leapt to his feet holding his prize aloft, before dusting it off and placing it lovingly back atop his curls.

“Thanks Rabbit see you later!”  Jon turned and started to stride happily out of the room, his brother gazing longingly at his back, hoping and wishing that he’d turn around and talk to him for a bit, see that he was in trouble.  As if by magic, Jon paused. 

And turned.

And the joy on his face was replaced once more by worry. 

“Rabbit?  If you knew where my hat was, why didn’t you tell me?”  Rabbit didn’t answer.  So Jon came closer.  “Rabbit?  Come on, don’t be mean.” 

Jon touched him, shook him, and then withdrew quickly. 

“Rabbit?  Rabbit?!  RABBIT!  Michael, Michael come here it’s Rabbit!”

The brass robot ran off, screaming for help and Michael and Steve.  And oddly enough for Sam to bring a sandwich.  Because after all, sandwiches could fix anything.  But if Rabbit could breathe a sigh of relief, he would have.  Something was finally being done.

“Rabbit, Rabbit can you hear me?”  Ten minutes later, Michael was kneeling at eye-level with the copper robot, holding his shoulders and talking softy.  Because loud noises would clearly break his further.  Clearly. 

But he was trapped within his own body.  A prisoner in the chassis he helped his Pappy create.  Michael shook him slightly, tapping the side of Rabbit’s head lightly.  Then he shook his head as he let go and turned to the others who were nervously shifting behind him.

“Nothing.  I don’t even know if he’s there.”

‘ _I’M HERE!_ ’  Rabbit screamed in his own head, feeling panic rise in his chest.  ‘ _I’M HERE!  I haven’t gone anywhere, I’m here!_ ’

“I can run a few tests, but if he’s not responding I don’t know what I can do for him.  If he’s not there anymore, the tests won’t help much.”

“Rabbit?”  Spine pushed around Michael, taking up the position he had just vacated.  “Rabbit, you’re in there aren’t you?  Say something.” 

But he couldn’t.  He couldn’t.  Spine drew closer, searching the bicolored eyes.  And finding nothing.  He lifted Rabbit’s head, before letting go and letting his chin drop back onto his chest.  Nothing. 

‘ _I’M HERE I’M HERE!_ ’  Rabbit could feel them slipping away from him, could hear them talking low. 

“I’ve never seen him this far gone before.  Do you think resetting him is best?”

“I don’t know.  How’d he even get like this?  How long has he been here?”

“Maybe just some water?”

And then he felt it.  It was small, but he noticed it.  Something was leaking down his face.  Oil.  The pressure had finally built up too high, his lines clogged from oil frozen in place, water leaking into every pipe and joint, the gas pressure building so high it had to find a way out.  Oil was dripping from his eyes, the only point open that high up.  The strain had pushed what uncongealed oil there was to the top, pushing and shoving it until it needed to escape.  And what place better than the open ports that lubricated his shutters?  He wasn’t crying, per say. He didn’t have any control over any of it.  It was just the power of time and build up.  But it worked.

They had stopped speaking, and were watching him.  It was Steve that knelt by Rabbit this time.  But instead of inspecting him, the human wrapped the robot in a hug so tight Rabbit thought he’d have dents to hammer out later as well.  But it felt good, to be noticed finally.  All this time alone, stuck in his mind and body, afraid and unsure of what to do, someone was caring for HIM, and not just what was wrong with him.

“It’s alright Rabbit, we’ll figure it out.  We’ll get you unstuck.”

And the fear, the terror, left Rabbit then.  Because Steve said he’d be alright.  And Steve did not let him down.  He’d be okay. 

He’d be okay. 


End file.
